iHeartMedia (IHRT) and The Competition Head-To-Head Survey

iHeartMedia (NASDAQ:IHRT) is one of 257 publicly-traded companies in the “Media” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare iHeartMedia to related companies based on the strength of its profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, valuation and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares iHeartMedia and its peers revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
iHeartMedia	$3.86 billion	-$472.87 million	-0.97
iHeartMedia Competitors	$3.00 billion	$35.12 million	7.11

iHeartMedia has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its peers. iHeartMedia is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Volatility and Risk

iHeartMedia has a beta of 2.47, meaning that its stock price is 147% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, iHeartMedia’s peers have a beta of 0.96, meaning that their average stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.9% of iHeartMedia shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.1% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by institutional investors. 10.2% of iHeartMedia shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.5% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for iHeartMedia and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
iHeartMedia	3	1	0	0	1.25
iHeartMedia Competitors	2324	6912	10759	489	2.46

iHeartMedia currently has a consensus price target of $4.25, indicating a potential upside of 140.11%. As a group, “Media” companies have a potential upside of 25.68%. Given iHeartMedia’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe iHeartMedia is more favorable than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares iHeartMedia and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
iHeartMedia	-7.18%	N/A	-1.12%
iHeartMedia Competitors	-18.35%	-47.57%	-4.60%

Summary

iHeartMedia beats its peers on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

iHeartMedia Company Profile

iHeartMedia, Inc. operates as an audio media company in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Multiplatform Group, Digital Audio Group, and Audio & Media Services Group. The Multiplatform Group segment offers broadcast radio stations, sponsorship and events, and live and virtual events; and operates Premiere Networks, a national radio network that produces, distributes, or represents syndicated radio programs and services to radio station affiliates. It also delivers real-time traffic flow and incident information, and weather updates, sports, and news. The Digital Audio Group segment provides podcasting, digital sites, newsletters, digital services, and programs; and iHeartRadio, a mobile app and web based service for radio stations, digital only stations, custom artist stations, and podcasts. The Audio and Media Services Group segment engages in the media representation business; and provides scheduling and broadcast software and services. This segment also provides RCS, a cloud and on-premises broadcast software, such as radio and television automation, music scheduling, newsroom automation, advertising sales management, disaster recovery solutions; and real-time audio recognition technology to radio and television stations, cable channels, record labels, advertisers, and agencies, as well as media streaming and research services. The company was formerly known as CC Media Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to iHeartMedia, Inc. in September 2014. The company is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.